Michelle and Wolf had their flight booked to London before we even booked ours, so we had been looking forward to their visit since our arrival in England. Michelle picked the dates based on a prosegious Design Workshop Class she signed up for at the Design Center in London which happened to coincide with Thanksgiving. As all our friends and family stories begin, we pulled into Heathrow early Thanksgiving mornings and waited anxiously for them to pop out of the arrivals gate. The flight from New York is not nearly as bad as the flight from California, so we came home dropped their bags and jetted off to London (minus Chef Tim). As all tourists must do, we hitched the nearest Red Double Decker and scoped out the city! It was a beautiful day and the clear skies allowed us great views of the city sites! We stayed until the sun was setting and the Christmas lights over Regents Street were starting to be hung! Meanwhile, Chef Tim stayed home slaving over the Turkey and making further preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. Once Michelle, Wolf, and I got home the house was filled with the smell of an American Thanksgiving feast. We relaxed with wine, turkey (well the vegetarian skipped the turkey – but appreciated the tradition), stuffing, green bean casserole, mashpotoes, cranberry and orange relish….for dessert Tim made a pumpkin cheese cake that was out of this world! (More to follow on the yummy pumpkin cheesecake).

The next morning Michelle headed into London for her fashion class where she was able to network with some influential Londoners at the Champagne Reception afterwards. Sorted! Meanwhile Tim and Wolf met up in London to wander the city, see the Tower of London and then hitch a boat ride along the Thames. I had to work, but met up with the three of them later that night. We went to an area called Brink Lane a.k.a. Curry Mile – a long stretch of street with all Indian food restaurants and similar variations. After dinner we went to a bar called Lounge Lover (where Madonna recently had her birthday party). Needless to say we loved the lounge and continued our late night fun. Cheesecake was waiting for us when we got home that night (morning) and so began the tradition of late nights and having cheesecake upon arrival home.

The next morning we headed to London, caught the tube and got off in the very fashionable Notting Hill neighborhood. After strolling the streets (getting slightly lost) we headed to Portobello Market, a cool street market that has anything and everything you could imagine. We wandered for several hours browsing the street vendors and shops. Lots of neat stuff, but we came home empty handed. Later we “tubed it” to Oxford and Regents streets to see the beautiful Christmas decorations, shop a little and go to a great restaurant called Rocket. Searching for the restaurant was like finding a needle in a haystack…it was tucked away in a tiny side alley. The food was great (and not too expensive) which is tough to find in London. After dinner we went to a members only club (the girls talked our way in) and had a little dancing fun with the locals. Pumpkin cheesecake was there to greet us when we got home.

Michelle and Wolf were dropped off at the good 'ol Slough train and headed on their way!